Shell starts commercial US output of new motor oil made from natural gas

Shell refers to its novel motor oil process as PurePlus technology, a patented process of converting natural gas into a clear base oil, which is the main component of motor oils.

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Shell announced Friday the creation of a first-of-its kind
base oil made from natural gas, the cleanest burning fossil
fuel.

Shell refers to the process as its PurePlus
technology, a patented process of converting natural gas into
a clear base oil, which is the main component of motor oils.

Shell's PurePlustechnology is now being used to
create motor oils that offer complete protection to motorists
in the US. Pennzoil Platinum and Pennzoil Ultra
Platinum full synthetic motor oils are the only ones
blended exclusively with these base oils.

"This is an absolute step change in our industry," said
Istvan Kapitany, president of Shell's lubricants business in
the Americas. "It is important to Shell that we continue to
push the boundaries of science and innovation to provide our
customers with improved transport options.

"What better way to do that than leveraging the benefits of
being an integrated company by adding natural gas from our
upstream operations to a new slate of oil products that are
hitting the store shelves now," he added.

The PurePlustechnology base oil is
manufactured at the Pearl GTL facility in Ras Laffan in
Qatar, a partnership between Qatar Petroleum and Shell.
Shell's PurePlus base oil is crystal clear due
to having fewer of the impurities found in crude oil.

The Shell GTL and the Shell PurePlus base oil
manufacturing processes have been the subject of multiple
patents.

"Shell PurePlus Technology is the result of 40 years
of innovation starting with the Shell natural-gas-to-liquids
(GTL) process that dates back to the 1970s," said Dr. Richard
Dixon, motor oil technology manager of Shell North
America.

"We then took this technology and ultimately created
Shell PurePlus base oil, which has been in large
scale commercial development since late 2011," he added. "To
our knowledge, Shell is the only manufacturer to have
produced base oils from natural gas on a commercial ,
scaleand it's exciting to pave the way for others to follow."

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kudos to this epoch making innovation.As a Gas Engineer,i love to see such innovations, so that the global world would have lesser emission of gas flare.If others will take it from hear.

Harry Rosenthal03.13.2014

Is there any truth to the rumor Shell is looking to divest itself of the motor oil portfolio because the margins are so low????

T. Vivenzio03.12.2014

See that Pennzoil is using this as a base for their synthetic oils. wonder if Shell synthetic oil will be using this as a base?

Wim Bosch03.11.2014

As a retired fuelquality consultant of Shell ,responsible for traniing and coaching developments of alternative fuels I am really proud of this new development!. I knew that Shell's GTL process is manufacturing very high quality (high cetane number and, sulphur free) diesel fuels , but this new development ,based on the GTL process is new to me!Wishing Shell lots of success for this very promising process!Wim Bosch

KSB Murukesh03.11.2014

Very nice to hear about your new motor fuel made by shell, It may be GAS TO LIQUID opeartions, Solicite your rough Componets spec if possible, will be aprreciated.Yah LPG/LNG debate on going world wide to cater the needs of future motor oils. KSB Murukesh ksb.murukesh@sunbo.kr